Welcomed in: Aly Cissokho on his first day at Liverpool (Image: Liverpool Twitter)

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On Tuesday afternoon Liverpool completed their latest move in the summer transfer window by finalising the move to bring Valencia full-back Aly Cissokho on loan for the rest of the season. The 25-year-old only moved to the Spanish side 12 months ago, before that he spent three seasons at French side Lyon, playing over 90 games. For everything you need to know about the left-back we asked our French expert Andrew Gibney to give us the inside track.

The story of Aly Cissokho is an interesting tale, with the French league famous for bringing through a barrage of young talent; it is in Portugal that Cissokho’s career really started. After moving to Vitória Setúbal in 2008 from FC Gueugnon he quickly moved onto Portuguese giants Porto and then back to France.

The fourth of five children – his brother Issa plays for FC Nantes - he quickly progressed through the youth sides in Gueugnon’s academy, after three years the promising 19-year-old full back made his league debut. His promising performances in the 14 games he started couldn’t stop his club going down and Setúbal would take the Frenchman to Portugal.

After making his debut in the UEFA Cup and 12 league starts the winter transfer window would see FC Porto sign him for €300,000. This is when he really found his feet. Showing a great willingness to break forward, he was often better utilised as an extra attacker than in defence. At Porto the defensive side wasn’t really an issue, and soon some of the bigger names in European football were after him.

Milan famously nearly signed him (we’ll get back to that) but it would be Lyon that would part with €15 million and bring the Blois-born defender back to the country of his birth. Another great example of Porto’s famous business model, a model that Lyon had successfully mimicked, that was until the season Cissokho signed.

(Image: Liverpool Twitter)

Perhaps he could have stayed and developed at Porto, but now at 21 his career was set to take off. However this was a Lyon side that were slipping down the ladder, gone were the seven titles in a row. Les Gones were struggling to compete with Bordeaux, Lille and Marseille. Cissokho had shown glimpses of his potential, he was an absolute tractor going forward, his energy and determination to get up and down and help at both ends of the pitch was clear to see, but there was something missing.

Chasing back to recover his defensive position he tends to make rash challenges – see Mathieu Debuchy at Newcastle – he is often found out of position and tries to compensate with his space and strength and gives away silly fouls, in the pace of the Premier League this could be a problem.

He is however built ready-made for the hustle and bustle of the English style. He will not be overpowered by many on the wing, which should also mean he could be a factor moving forward, but then Liverpool fans will pick up quickly that he struggled with the passing aspect of being a full-back. His deliveries lack any consistency and it was a major grip that both the Lyon and Valencia fans had with Cissokho.

Liverpool already have Jose Enrique at left-back and it is hard to see Cissokho becoming an instant first choice at Anfield this season. The Spaniard is a better defender and much more complete technically than the Frenchman. Cissokho is a decent alternative and will provide cover, but it’s hard to see him becoming anything more than a back-up. In the big physical games Cissokho could provide added size and strength, but in the bigger more crucial games that Liverpool have this season, you wouldn’t want to see the Frenchman bounding back and causing trouble to his own defence.

His famous transfer to Milan collapsed when Cissokho failed his medical due to an issue that showed up in the X-Rays of his teeth. They spotted a problem that could have posture issues as he developed in later years. Lyon took a gamble and lost about €10 million as he never really lived up to his potential. Let’s hope for Liverpool’s sake he doesn’t end up causing them (heart) tooth-ache.